This song grew from a simple piano melody in D Mixolydian, which was gradually built out with a chord progression woven around it. All instruments except the guitars were programmed in Reaper. The guitars — both steel-string and nylon-string — were recorded live.

You can play the song in high quality here:

The beautiful vocals were performed remotely by SevdaB from Georgia. The song was written during the second lockdown in the winter of 2020.

The accompanying video was created using AI-generated footage from Runway Gen-2, edited and assembled in sync with the rhythm of the music.

Energy Saving Mode

The following song is based upon a picture drawn by my daughter. It is the first song created using no computer in the first round. All synth tracks were recorded in a second step and additional layers from Zebra-Synth and BBC-Orchestra were added in post-production. The vocals are generated using AI but later substituted by real vocals.

Final Version:

The final version contains vocals by Chalsea Burns, a fantastic singer from Nashville. She took the AI-vocals on a totally new level.

I mainly used the following synths: Yamaha Montage M8x, Moog Subsequent, Moog Muse, Elektron Digitakt, Elektron Analog Four, Waldorf Iridium. The guitar is a Fender Stratocaster with Seymour Duncoun Humbuckers. Ampmodellers: Fractal Audio AX-8, Neutral DSP: Plini, Corry Wong, Gojira.

First draft with my music and an AI-Vocals invented by Suno based upon some lyrics-ideas I gave it based upon the painitng by my daughter.

First Version with AI vocals:

You may write me down in history With your bitter, twisted lies, You may trod me in the very dirt But still, like dust, I’ll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you? Why are you beset with gloom? ’Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells Pumping in my living room. Just like moons and like suns, With the certainty of tides, Just like hopes springing high, Still I’ll rise.

Like dust I rise

I recently changed my setup to DAW-less. Instead of having a computer as centerpiece of making music, everything is controlled by a Boss RC 600 looper and the Digitakt.

This first track is based upon the AI version of a famous poem „Still I rise“ by Maya Angelou. I transformed that poem into spoken words using a text to speech AI. The outcome is transformed to synchronize with 129 beats per minute and I added some effects to it. This vocal file is loaded into the Boss RC 600 looper. All instruments are sequenced by the Digitakt. The first synth sound is a Waldorf Iridium, the second base is a Moog Subsequent 25 and the Piano part is played on the Yamaha Montage. Rhythm sounds are all programmed on the Digitakt.

A song that was recorded during the lockdown in 2020/2021. The lyrics and vocals are a contribution from somebody who must not be named. The video is based upon various video sources obtained from other artists (the description and list of sources is in YouTube):

This song reflects my passion for analog synths. First time I am using the Korg Minilogue and the Waldorf Iridium together with Elektron Digitakt. The song is recorded using hardware synths. The voice is AI, no other AI-tools used in this song.

This song was recorded with a little help from Michael Schad around 2003. The drums and synth sounds were programmed by Micha on an old Korg Wavestation. I played most of the guitars using his Godin Nylon guitars through some decent effects pedal into an old Windows 98 computer. Micha played the fantastic solo in the middle. Everything was recorded within a couple of hours before we went out for some San Miguel beers in the spanish bar nearby his studio.

Another song I recorded together with a lot of help from Michael Schad around 2000. Unfortunately, the digital files of this song are lost. He recorded everything on an (nowadays) old Windows 98 computer but only an analog tape survived over all these years, which is why there is so much noise. The backing guitars were recorded using an acoustic simulator for electronic guitars which is still available. I played the melody on Micha’s Godin Nylon guitar and he added some synth base and strings.

This song builds upon a brush drum sample taken from the „Nothing But Brushes“ library. One of the first songs I recorded after a long break in 2017. I added additional drums using a standard drum kit from the Yamaha Montage. The base sounds are played using the Montage synthesizer. All electronic guitars are recorded using the Fractal Audio AX8 system and a Fender Stratocaster. Nylon guitars are recorded directly through a Zoom A3 pedal using a Godin nylon guitar. The electric piano sounds are based on the Chick Corea library for Yamaha Montage. The synthesizer sounds in the end of the song are programmed by Alex Hacke for the U-HE Zebra 2. The song also contains some rare sounds of a Chinese Guzhen provided in the East West library „Silk“.